Covington also tallied 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season and his first since Dec. 16.

Murray State (18-5, 9-2 OVC) won the tip and immediately scored the game's opening hoop. Covington responded with a three, but the Racers went on 7-0 run to make the score 9-3 in favor of the home side.

M.J. Rhett ended the Murray State stretch with a layup at the 16:02 mark, but the sophomore forward went down with a shoulder injury on TSU's next defensive possession.

The Racers capitalized off of the lack of depth down low with 14 first half points in the paint compared to just four for TSU.

Isaiah Canaan led Murray State to a 12 point lead over the next eight minutes en route to scoring seven first half points.

The Tigers chipped away at the lead and even got it down to six when Miller hit a triple, but Murray State would go into halftime leading by nine, 32-23.

Miller led all scorers in the first period with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting. However, the Tigers shot just 23 percent (7-of-31) during the opening frame while the Racers made 12-of-25 (48 percent).

TSU came out much hotter shooting the basketball in the second half and eventually cut the Racer lead to four when Thornton hit a jumper at the 14:55 mark.

The Tigers kept fighting and a tip slam by Thornton and an old-fashioned three-point play by Miller on consecutive possessions put Murray State ahead, 42-40.

After Miller's free throw at the 12:59 mark, TSU would score just eight more points for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile, the Racers rattled off 27 points to walk away with a 69-48 victory.

TSU was 7-of-13 to start the second half, but made just 3-of-15 during the game's final 13 minutes. The Tigers ended the game shooting 28.8 percent (17-of-59) which is their lowest total in an OVC contest this season.